Sydney: Bill Henson re-opens

Bill Henson 2008
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery
until 21 June
Viewing by appointment

Above left: © Bill Henson, 'Untitled #17', 2007/08
type C photographs, 127 × 180cm, analogue prints
Courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery

LF joined the happy throng at RO9G's Biennale welcome drinks, and was able to view this rather subtle exhibition as the artist intended it to be seen, the 'confiscated' works now restored, with a PG rating. As often in past shows, figure studies are juxtaposed with shadowy landscapes and sombre interiors to create Henson's familiar dark poetics. No huge change is visible in this show, although some observers have commented that some of the figure studies are more 'descriptive' or 'literal' than in the past. There is no apparent "despoliation and abuse" (to quote an earlier comment by Edmund Capon - see full context below), and these solo studies of a young girl and boy, sometimes in extreme close-up, exhibit an almost tender innocence, a sense of the privacy and shyness of adolescence.

Odd then, that these relatively innocent images are the ones to have created such a furore. In the meantime, one of the much more confronting large diptyches from 1995/6 has remained hanging as part of the AGNSW's rotating modern art collection, see below. LF has noted apparently incurious families with toddlers viewing this without evident ill effect.

© Bill Henson, Untitled 1995/961995-1996
diptych: 2 type C photographs, adhesive tape, pins, glassine
Purchased 1996
Courtesy the artist and RAGNSW

In a 2002 documentary on Henson's work aired on ABC-TV (and recently re-screened) Edmund Capon, the director of the NSW Art Gallery, has said of this series "There are images that are close to despoliation and abuse, but they're sort of orchestrated with this wonderful sensual baroque exoticism at the same time."

In 2005, when a major retrospective of Henson opened at AGNSW, Ben Cubby (Images that stir the mind, SMH, January 7, 2005) wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald:
Henson is nonplussed by the idea that his work is morally murky. "For me, perhaps you have a tenderness and fragility, but at the same time you have a sense of violence or threat or violation. You have all of these seemingly opposing forces. That creates a certain ambiguity, which can be unsettling ... Many times in the past people have said to me that their mind is being pulled in one direction and their heart somewhere else. Which I think is great because, if nothing else, it takes them on a journey."

Some other memorable quotes from recent times:

"Whatever the artistic view of the merits of that sort of stuff - frankly I don't think there are any - just allow kids to be kids."
- Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, May 2008

"Henson's images are veritable symphonies of decadence and beauty, of squalor and opulence, of mysterious darkness and ominous light, of quiet obsession and subversive ecstasy."
- Edmund Capon, Director, Art Gallery of NSW, May 2008

"You can call it anything you want, but at the end of the day, these are images of naked adolescents."
- Hetty Johnston, Bravehearts, May 2008

"In the end it's only a representation. We're not being asked to agree or approve."
- Judy Annear, Senior Curator, Art Gallery of NSW, May 2008

"Henson's art is worth defending, because he is a great artist and his themes - solitude; intimacy; transitional, incommunicable states; desecration; what the critic Dennis Cooper called "moments of intense self-mourning", and so on - are addressed with profound sensitivity and understanding. They have found expression over the years not only in images of the faces and bodies of teenagers and young adults, but in a whole array of other imagery, including landscapes, still lifes and urban crowds. Of course, there is a kind of artist (one sees more and more of them these days) who finds a taboo and breaks it, hoping thereby to create a sensation. Henson is not that kind of artist. He is well aware that his work has the potential to stir up controversy. (He has sensible and sensitive things to say about this, but he is acutely aware that one cannot ultimately control the reception of one's images.) But his vision is authentic and original. And it is highly sensitive to emotional ambiguity, as great art should be (and politics never is)."
- Sebastian Smee, The Australian, May 28, 2008

The Classification Board, under its new chief, former ABC head Donald McDonald, is far less troubled by Henson's work. Earlier this week it cleared five images - four of them had been partly censored - and it has now given the young girl on the invitation a rating of PG.
The board's guidelines state: "Material classified PG may contain material which some children find confusing or upsetting, and may require the guidance of parents or guardians. It is not recommended for viewing or playing by persons under 15 without guidance from parents or guardians."
The picture came to the board for classification when it was found in a blog discussing pornography and the sexualisation of children. The classifiers found the "image of breast nudity … creates a viewing impact that is mild and justified by context … and is not sexualised to any degree".
While a minority of the board thought the impact of the picture was "moderate", none of the classifiers called for any restriction on its display.
– David Marr, Sydney Morning herald, June 6, 2008

We leave it to you, the jury.